Just as Troy Tulowitzki’s bat is beginning to heat up, a left quadriceps injury suffered Sunday afternoon threatens to stop him cold.

Although Tulowitzki termed the injury minor, it sends up a red flag because the injury occurred in the same area where he suffered a complete tendon tear last season. That injury cost Tulowitzki 47 games and hampered him for the rest of the 2008 season.

The Rockies’ shortstop, emerging from an early-season slump, hit a solo homer in the first inning of the Rockies’ 3-2 victory over the Marlins Sunday. But he pulled his quadriceps in the sixth when he attempted to field pitcher Aaron Cook’s errant throw to second base. Tulowitzki was removed from the game in the top of the ninth, replaced by Clint Barmes.

“I’m feeling all right,” he said. “I went and got some treatment, so we’ll see how it feels tomorrow. It will be nice to have a day off. We’ll come back on Tuesday, do some stuff and see if I’m ready to go.”

Tulowitzki said he felt his quadriceps “tweak” when he made a sudden movement on Cook’s throw to the bag.

“It happened when I was going full speed to the bag and had to stop and go the other direction and I kind of tweaked it a little bit,” he said.

Tulowitzki said the injury is not nearly as severe as last’s seasons when he ripped the quadriceps tendon from the bone.

“My leg, obviously, is weaker than my other one,” he said. ‘So it’s expected a little bit. But at the same time, it’s sorer than normal. The smart thing was to put ‘Barmie” in there. It doesn’t do any good for me to try and go back out there and blow it out again, then miss two months.”

Tulowitzki, who describes himself as a notoriously slow starter at the plate, went 2-for-3 Sunday, boosting his average to .237. He was hitting .198 after Thursday’s game. Sunday marked his third straight multi-hit game, and he’s knocked in seven runs in his last seven games. That after collecting no RBIs in his previous 17 games.

“I feel real good and I had some good (at-bats) out there today,” he said. “I’ve been trying to tell everyone that I get off to a slow start every year and that I will be OK. Nobody really wants to listen. I was still in a good place, I wasn’t down on myself, but I knew I had a ways to go.”

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson had butterflies before Sunday's game against the Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't because of the big-name opponent, but rather his return from a 13-game injury absence and being stoked to rejoin a team in a playoff push and looking for its third postseason appearance in 10 years.